Democrats in the US House of Representatives are laying the groundwork for the next phase of their impeachment inquiry with a vote this week on a resolution to affirm the investigation, set rules for public hearings and outline the potential process for writing articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday announced a vote on the resolution, which would be the first formal House vote on the impeachment inquiry.
It aims to nullify complaints from Trump and his allies — amplified last week when Republicans stormed a secure room used for impeachment interviews — that the process is illegitimate, unfair and lacking in due process.
Despite the move toward a vote, Democrats said that they were not yielding to Republican pressure.
Pelosi dismissed Republican arguments against the inquiry, including that impeachment cannot begin without formal approval from the House.
“I do not care. I do not care. This is a false thing with them,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. “Understand it has nothing to do with them. It has to do with how we proceed.”
Trump has cited the lack of a House vote as a reason to refuse cooperation with the impeachment investigation.
In the wake of Pelosi’s announcement, the White House said that nothing had changed.
Pelosi “is finally admitting what the rest of America already knew — that Democrats were conducting an unauthorized impeachment proceeding, refusing to give the president due process and their secret, shady, closed-door depositions are completely and irreversibly illegitimate,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
Pelosi did not release the text of the resolution, but said that it would establish procedure for public hearings, authorize the disclosure of closed-door deposition transcripts and set forth “due process rights for the president and his counsel.”
It was unclear if that means that White House lawyers would be able to interview witnesses, or if Republicans would be able to call their own.
Republicans have said that the minority had those powers in previous impeachment investigations.
Many government officials have cooperated with the inquiry, despite Trump’s orders.
However, Pelosi’s announcement came just hours after a former White House national security official defied a House subpoena for closed-door testimony, escalating the standoff between the US Congress and the White House over who will testify.
Earlier on Monday, Charles Kupperman, who was a deputy to former US national security adviser John Bolton, failed to show up for the scheduled closed-door deposition after filing a lawsuit asking a federal court in Washington to rule on whether he was legally required to appear.
In a statement, Kupperman said that he was awaiting “judicial clarity.”
US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said that Kupperman’s suit has “no basis in law” and speculated that the White House did not want him to testify, because his testimony could be incriminating.
Democrats are investigating Trump’s pressure on the Ukrainian government to pursue politically motivated investigations, as the administration was also withholding military aid to the country.
“If this witness had something to say that would be helpful to the White House, they would’ve wanted him to come and testify,” Schiff told reporters. “They plainly don’t.”
The three committees leading the impeachment inquiry would move forward, with or without testimony from Kupperman and other witnesses, Schiff said.
Democrats have indicated that they are likely to use no-show witnesses to write an article of impeachment against Trump for obstruction of justice, rather than launching potentially lengthy court battles to obtain testimony.
“We are not willing to allow the White House to engage us in a lengthy game of rope-a-dope in the courts, so we will move forward,” Schiff said.
Schiff said over the weekend that he wants Bolton to testify, although that has not yet been scheduled.
He on Sunday told This Week that Bolton, who, according to other witnesses had concerns about the Ukraine policy, “has very relevant information.”
However, he predicted that the White House would fight a Bolton appearance.
In turning their focus to the White House, lawmakers have said that they are hoping to get more answers about what aides close to Trump knew about his orders on Ukraine policy.
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